In this study, the environmental impacts of the organic fraction of municipal solid waste (OFMSW) treatment and its conversion in anaerobic digestion to glycerol tertiary butyl ether (GTBE) were assessed. The production process is a part of the innovative project of a municipal waste treatment plant. The BioRen project is funded by the EU’s research and innovation program H2020. A consortium has been set up to implement the project and to undertake specific activities to achieve the expected results. The project develops the production of GTBE which is a promising fuel additive for both diesel and gasoline. It improves engine performance and reduces harmful exhaust emissions. At the same time, the project focuses on using non-recyclable residual organic waste to produce this ether additive.
The aim of this paper is the evaluation through Life Cycle Assessment of the environmental impact GTBE production in comparison with a production of other fuels. To quantify the environmental impacts of GTBE production, the ILCD 2011 Midpoint+ v.1.10 method was considered. The study models the production of GTBE, including the sorting and separation of municipal solid waste (MSW), pre-treatment of organic content, anaerobic fermentation, distillation, catalytic dehydration of isobutanol to isobutene, etherification of GTBE with isobutene and hydrothermal carbonization (HTC).
The results indicate that unit processes: sorting and hydrothermal carbonization mostly affect the environment. Moreover, GTBE production resulted in higher environmental impact than the production of conventional fuels.
Potential sources of rare earth elements are sought after in the world by many researchers. Coal
ash obtained at high temperatures (HTA ) is considered among these sources.
The aim of the study was an evaluation of the suitability of the high temperature ash (HTA ) formed
during the combustion of bituminous coal from the Ruda beds of the Pniówek coal mine as an
potential resource of REY . The 13 samples of HTA obtained from the combustion of metabituminous
(B) coal were analyzed.
The analyses showed that the examined HTA samples varied in their chemical composition.
In accordance with the chemical classification of HTA , the analyzed ash samples were classified
as belonging to the following types: sialic, sialocalcic, sialoferricalcic, calsialic, fericalsialic,
ferisialic.
The research has shown that the rare earth elements content (REY ) in examined HTA samples
are characterized by high variability. The average REY content in the analyzed ashes was 2.5 times
higher than the world average (404 ppm).
Among rare earth elements, the light elements (LREY ) were the most abundant. Heavy elements
(HREY ) had the lowest share.
A comparison of the content of the individual rare earth elements in HTA samples and in UCC
showed that it was almost 20 times higher than in UCC.
The distribution patterns of REY plotted for all samples within their entire range were positioned
above the reference level and these curves were of the M-H or M-L type. The data presented indicate, that the analyzed ash samples should be regarded as promising REY
raw materials. Considering the fact that in 7 out of 13 analyzed ash samples the REY content was
higher than 800 ppm, REY recovery from these ashes may prove to be economic.